Avenger assembly required.
Lúcio: You should come to Rio, Orisa. I could use your help with those Vishkar goons.
Orisa: I do not know about this Vishkar, but I am programmed to assist where I can.
Orisa: I do not know about this Vishkar, but I am programmed to assist where I can.
Superheroes come in all different kinds of flavors. One such flavor is robots. Simply put, a robot superhero is a robot who performs superheroics. How and why a robot acts as a superhero varies. Sometimes, the robot is specifically built, designed, and programmed to protect and save humanity. Other times, the robot was made to do evil acts but instead turns on their creator upon realizing said creator's true intentions. Androids and robots are commonly thought of as cold, emotionless, and not caring much for humans beyond following orders. As such, a bot that actively fights crime and saves (human) lives can come as a bit of a shock to those with the aforementioned mindset.
Compare Benevolent A.I., Cheerful A.I., Robot Buddy, Superpowered Robot Meter Maids, Super Robot Genre, and Virtual Sidekick, all of which can easily overlap with this. Particularly large ones may cross into Humongous Mecha territory.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Astro Boy: Dr. Tenma initially built Astro Boy to be a replacement for his dead son, but the robot soon went on to fight evil and save lives on a regular basis.
Asian Animation
- Cubix: Robots for Everyone: The eponymous Cubix and the other robot friends of the Botties' Pit crew battle the evil Dr. K who seeks to Take Over the World with an army of robots of his own creation.
- In Happy Heroes, the Supermen are all ridiculously human Robot Kids who each have unique superpowers and fight against the various monsters Big M. summons to try to take over Planet Xing.
Comic Books
- Astro City
- Beautie is a super-strong flying robot that resembles an adult-sized Beautie fashion doll.
- Rivets, the Robot Kid, is an android programmed to be a heroic teen superhero.
- Atomic Robo: The title character alternates his time between science and saving the world. He started out as Nikola Tesla’s bulletproof, super-strong lab assistant, but his adventurous personality led him to start fighting evil as well, and by the present he heads a team of Action Scientists dedicated to combating strange and unusual threats across the globe.
- The Avengers:
- Vision was originally created by the evil bot Ultron to infiltrate and kill the Avengers. However, Vision later had a change of heart (so to speak) and became an Avenger himself.
- There was an entire team of robot superheroes in Avengers A.I..
- Aaron Stack aka the Machine Man is a superheroic android with several robot abilities, such as telescopic limbs and various weaponry, built into his body.
- Jocasta is a gynoid created by the villainous Ultron to be his mate, but she instead defected and joined the Avengers.
- The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot: Rusty was built to protect/save Japan from nasty Kaiju. Rusty is long on heart but short on firepower.
- Ex Machina: Automaton appears shortly after Mitchell Hundred becomes mayor of New York, fighting low-level crime with a jetpack and claiming to be a robot Mitchell built, which he fervently denies; ultimately subverted when Automaton gets into a fight with Kremlin and Bradbury and is damaged before escaping. Kremlin notes that robots don't bleed.
- The Filth: One of the members of the heroic Status Q organization is Machine Girl, a Robot Girl with a human brain.
- Green Lantern: Stel is a robot from the planet Grenda and the Green Lantern of Sector 3009.
- The Invaders: Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, is an android created by Professor Phineas T. Horton. Rejecting his creator's proposal to use his powers for money and fame, Hammond instead became one of the first superheroes in the Marvel Universe.
- Invincible: Robot initially appears to be an example, however it later turns out he's not an AI but rather a mutant Mad Scientist using a Remote Body.
- Iron Man: During a period in which Tony Stark was rendered brain dead, a duplicate of himself (achieved via Brain Uploading) took over the Iron Man identity, able to control the suits in a similar manner to J.A.R.V.I.S., F.R.I.D.A.Y., and P.E.P.P.E.R. before him.
- Metal Men: The titular Metal Men are all heroic robots led by Dr. Magnus, with various powers and abilities based on the type of metal they were named after.
- Red Tornado: Similar to Vision above, the eponymous Red Tornado is an android with wind powers who was created by Mad Scientist T.O. Morrow to infiltrate the Justice League and destroy it from within, pretending to be the original Red Tornado suffering from amnesia. Tornado eventually learns the truth, turns on his creator, saves the League, and becomes a hero in his own right.
- Top 10: One of the first cops in Neopolis was Steelgauntlet, who claimed to be horrifically-burned scientist Frank Chambers, forced to encase his mortally-wounded body inside a bulky suit of Powered Armor. In reality, Chambers died years ago, and Steelgauntlet was a robot he created before his death, though this fact was never disclosed during his time due to Neopolis' anti-robot policies. In the modern day, Girl One found more acceptance, but only because she looked and acted mostly human; her successor, Girl Two, quit after being expected to replace One despite not having her years of experience, and another robotic officer, Joe Pi, faces constant harassment because he can't pass for human by any standards.
- The Twelve: Electro is a clanking battle robot created and telepathically controlled by Professor Philo Zog. Electro is equipped with armor thicker than a tank, the ability to run at speeds of up to 100 mph, and Super-Strength.
- X-Men: Danger is an artificial consciousness that was built into Cerebro, but Danger later mutated and gained full sapience and a robotic body, which it used to fight crime.
- Doom Patrol: Robotman is a former race car driver named Cliff Steele whose body was destroyed after a terrible accident, and his surviving brain was implanted into a robotic body by Niles Caulder.
Film — Animation
- Big Hero 6: Baymax was a healthcare robot who Hiro upgraded to be a superhero on the grounds that catching his brother's killer would be good for his mental health.
- The Iron Giant: Played with. The Giant is not a traditional superhero in that he was originally built as an alien war machine and arrived on Earth for reasons unknown and with his memory erased. However, throughout the film, he undergoes Character Development inspired by Hogarth and embraces Superman as a role model to live up to. In the film's finale, he performs a Heroic Sacrifice to save the townspeople from incoming doom in a scene so memorable and iconic that some critics have dubbed this film "the best Superman movie in history".
The Giant: Superman...
- Also played with in Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow. Iron Man, prior to his retirement, built robotic versions of the Avengers (dubbed the Iron Avengers) as potential replacements for when the Avengers died or retired. However, after Ultron took over the world, they were unsafe to be used and stored away. Years later, they are reactivated and (though they try to fight Ultron) ultimately corrupted and taken over by Ultron. The wayward android turned them into his foot soldiers, but they still retained their Avengers-theming and abilities.
Film — Live-Action
- Ultraman Zero: The allies, known collectively as Ultimate Force Zero, have two heroic members, Jean-Bot and his brother Jean-Nine, who are sentient Transforming Mecha who can voluntarily shift between spaceship and giant robot forms.
- Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial: Jean-Bot debuts as a dormant spaceship serving as a hibernating protector of the Royalty on Planet Esmeralda, where he's awakened by Nao, transforming into his giant robot form to help the heroes Ultraman Zero, Glenfire and, Mirror Knight battle the evil Ultraman Belial.
- Ultraman Zero Gaiden: Killer the Beatstar: Jean-Nine, the second robotic ally of Ultraman Zero, was originally created by the eponymous rogue AI Beatstar as a weapon of destruction. Regaining a conscience on his own, Jean-Nine eventually embraces the existing robotic ally Jean-Bot as a brother figure and becomes another member of the Ultimate Force Zero.
Live-Action TV
- The eponymous Android Kikaider is an android superhero, being the earliest example in the tokusatsu genre.
- Metal Heroes: Like Kikaider, some of the eponymous Metal Heroes were in fact robots who fought off evil.
- Power Rangers/Super Sentai
- Power Rangers Turbo/Gekisou Sentai Carranger: The Blue Senturion/Signalman is the first example in the franchise. Both versions are robotic Space Cops sent to protect Earth.
- Power Rangers Operation Overdrive: The Red Ranger Mack is revealed to be an android created by his father Andrew Hartford. Despite being shaken by this logic, Mack continues the fight against evil.
- Power Rangers Megaforce/Tensou Sentai Goseiger: Gosei Knight is a sentient mecha who made a pact with the planet to assume a human-like form in order to protect the planet from the Yuumajuu. His Power Rangers counterpart is a robot created centuries ago by Gosei to serve as Earth's protector and awakens in the 21st Century to fight the War Insectoid army when they invade Earth.
- Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger: While Kaito and Zox are organic creatures, the rest of the team are Mechanical Lifeforms called Kikanoids from a parallel world known as Kikaitopia, named as a friendly Shout-Out to the aforementioned Android Kikaider above.
Toys
- The Autobots of the Transformers franchise, and their successors the Maximals, certainly count, as they fight to protect each other, and other civilizations, from the Decepticons and Predacons respectively.
Video Games
- Mega Man
- Mega Man (Classic): Rock was initially a helper robot just like his sister Roll until Dr. Wily stole Dr. Light's robot masters and reprogrammed them to cause trouble. Upon which, Rock requested Dr. Light to reprogram him into a fighting robot in order to stop Dr. Wily and the robots. Although reluctant, Dr. Light accepts and turns Rock into a robot hero known as Mega Man.
- Mega Man X:
- The Maverick Hunters are Reploids with the task of detaining and exterminating mavericks that threaten the earth. Among the Maverick Hunters is the very first Reploid, Mega Man X, who was built by Dr. Light 100 years ago to serve as the earth's protector.
- Zero was initially a robot built by Dr. Wily in an effort to one-up Dr. Light. However, Zero proved to be too unstable and dangerous, forcing Dr. Wily to seal him away. 100 years later, Zero has a fight with the Maverick Hunter leader Sigma, the resulting fight causing their moralities to swap. As such, Zero becomes a top level Maverick Hunter while Sigma becomes the leader of the Mavericks.
- METAGAL: The eponymous character is a Robot Girl out to save her fellow robotic sisters from the clutches of the evil General Creeper.
- Mighty No. 9: The titular "Mighty Number" robots were originally built to be peacekeeping combat androids, but they go rogue after an unknown computer virus turns them against mankind. Beck, the ninth and final member of the Mighty Numbers, sets out to defeat his older siblings with the help of his partner Call and creator Dr. White.
- Overwatch:
- Orisa is a repurposed OR15 defense omnic that was bought, rebuilt, and upgraded by a Child Prodigy to be the guardian of the city of Numbani, where humans and robots freely co-exist.
- Echo was designed by Overwatch scientist Dr. Liao to prove that omnics were not inherently threatening to humanity. In addition to being able to fly and use various weaponry on her own, she is a literal Do-Anything Robot designed to be able to learn any task and replicate it by perfect mimicry. When Overwatch disbanded, she was put back "on ice" until freed by Cole Cassidy to rejoin the new, outlaw version of Overwatch seeking to save the world.
- Ratchet & Clank: Clank was initially built as part of a villainous sentrybot army. However, due to his size, he was deemed a defect and set to be scrapped, prompted Clank to escape where he would eventually meet Ratchet, and the two would become a heroic duo.
- Skylanders: All of the Skylanders are viewed as the heroes and protectors of the Skylands due to their powers and courage, and some Skylanders of the tech element are robots.
- Drill Sergeant, the Arkeyan machine from the first game, was made to serve his master whom he marks as Terrafin. When Terrafin tells him not to serve him, he obliges and uses his powers to help the Skylands freely.
- Bouncer from Skylanders: Giants is established as being one of the original Skylanders. Originally built as a Roboto-ball player, when the Arkeyans destroyed his home, he started using his abilities to protect the Skylands.
- Magna Charge is a magnetic robot Skylander who uses his powers to aid others. As he is a part of the Swap Force, he can even swap half of his body with another Swap Force member.
- Both Trap Masters of the tech element are robots.
- Gearshift is was originally built to serve as the princess of Metallana, but she was too adventurous and became a hero instead. She uses a gear made out of traptanium to fight and capture villains who threaten Skylands.
- When Jawbreaker was built, he had a peaceful time until trolls attempted to steal a train for nefarious purposes, prompting Jawbreaker to take action. Noticing this, Eon made Jawbreaker a Skylander and a part of the Trap Team due to his fists being made of traptanium.
Web Animation
- RWBY: Penny Polendina is a robotic girl possessing a human soul. After her first death and subsequent rebuilding, she becomes a local superhero in her hometown of Mantle, with the public deeming her "The Protector of Mantle".
Western Animation
- Batman: The Animated Series: The episode "His Silicon Soul" has a robot duplicate of Batman that was built to oppose the hero but was built so exact that it started to believe it was Batman and began fighting crime and even believed in Batman's code against killing.
- Big Hero 6: The Series: As in the original film, Baymax continues to act as a robotic superhero.
- A canine variant is Dynomutt, Dog Wonder. He's quite inept and slap happy, traits which get subverted in the 2020 movie SCOOB!.
- Frankenstein Jr.: The eponymous character was a robot developed by child genius Buzz Conroy, and the two battled various villains in every episode.
- Futurama: Bender became the superheroic Superking in the episode "Less Than Hero."
- Invincible (2021): As in the original comics, Robot initially appears to be an example, however it later turns out he's not an AI but rather a mutant Mad Scientist using a Remote Body.
- My Life as a Teenage Robot: Main character XJ-9/Jenny Wakeman was specifically built and programmed by her creator/mother Nora Wakeman to protect the Earth.
- Mighty Orbots was about a team of these, who could also combine into one great big robot with all of the smaller ones' powers.
- Robotboy: The title character regularly goes up against villains who want to Take Over the World.
- The Robonic Stooges, originally a segment of Hanna-Barbera's Skatebirds show (from 1977), is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. The Three Stooges as robot superheroes who bumble their way through their missions with mixed results. (An earlier attempt, Superstooges, never got past the concept stage. Also has nothing to do with the 1974 Italian release Superstooges vs. the Wonder Women.)
- Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!: The titular robot monkeys are actually cyborgs, but Chiro's fully robotic girlfriend Jinmay joins the team in later seasons and definitely qualifies as a heroic robot.
